Foldable cartons



Aprill, 1958 J. E. MIRES EIAL 2,823,904

FOLDABLE CARTON-S I Filed Jan. 26. 1954 4 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS IJOSEPH E. M/RES & WILL/AM SKILLEN ATTORNEY United States Patent2,828,904&

FOLDABLE CARTONS Joseph Everett Mires and William Skillen, London, On-

tario-,, Canada, assignorstoSomervilleLimited, London, Ontario, Canada,a company of Canada Application January 26, 1954,.Serial No. 406,238

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-39 This invention relates to collapsible cartons ofthe type which are shipped to the. user in flat folded form and arethen. expanded to receive the merchandise to be placed therein, theinvention more particularly relating to cartons which are designed tocontain a single articles such as. a bottle. The carton in thisinvention is generally of regular polygon shape and made up in eitherhexagonal orfloctagonal form- A particular object of the invention is toso design. the bottom of the carton that it is formed of a plurality oftabs integral. withv the bottom straight crease line edges, which seriesof such adjacent tabs, when the carton is in flat folded form, overlap'to a sufficient. extent, and in a proper sequence to swing downwardly tointerengage with one another to form a bottom closure on. the insertionof an article therein.

By flat folded: form we mean the form wherein the carton isfolded sothat all sides are substantially parallel so that. the carton, althoughmore than one layer. inv thickness, is in a form which might begenerally described as laminar.

Overlapping is achieved by providing that the angle between the creaselines of adjacent tabs extending from adjacent sides which are notfolded with respect to one another in the flat folded form is less than180 measured on the angle which includes the carton side material.

A further and particular object of the invention is to provide twogroups of tabs which are of quadrangular shape and inclined in relationto the bottom edges of the carton sides, the remaining tabs being oftriangular shape and located in alignment with the two side edges of thecarton when it is in its folded fiat form; the quadrangular tabs beingpreferably separated from one another by thin cuts in the cartonmaterial and wherein substantially no carton material is removed inmaking the cuts.

The principle of using interengaging tabs swingably formed on the bottomedges of a carton of the type shown in this application and whichconstitute the carton bottom closure is not new, but in theconstructions heretofore used the carton tabs were so designed that itwas necessary to leave the tabs protruding from the bottom of the cartonwhen it was in its flat folded form, which necessitated the operator infilling the carton to press the carton from its folded fiat tubular forminto its box form and then bend the bottom tabs upwardly one by one in acertain pattern so that they interengaged in the proper manner to formthe bottom closure, the tabs being numbered to guide the operator.

As will be apparent from the previous and the following description, wehave overcome the disadvantages in the cartons used heretofore by sodesigning and arranging the tabs that they project into the carton whenin its flat tubular form and automatically swing downwardly into theirproper closure forming interengagement when an article of merchandise isplaced within the carton to press the tabs downwardly.

With the foregoing and other objects in view as shall appear, ourinvention consists of a carton formed and arranged all as hereinafterdescribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a carton blank cut in accordance with ourinvention and formed to produce a carton of hexagonal shape, the bottomclosure forming tabs extending. downwardly from the bottom edges of thecartonsides.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the lower portion of the carton blank andshowing the tabs bent upwardly into the position in which they willremain until the bottom closure is formed by the insertion of themerchandise.

Figure 3 is a reduced slightly perspective view of the carton in flattubular form as it is shipped to the user.

Figure 4 is. a side elevational view of the lower portion of the cartonexpanded to receive a piece of merchandise, such as a bottle, the tabsbeing upwardly inclined within the carton.

Figure 5' is asimilar view to Figure 4 and showing a bottle in placewithin the carton, the weight of the bottle having bent the. tabsdownwardly into their proper interengaging, relationship to form thebottom closure.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 illustrate the various positions of the top flaps ofthe carton during the carton top closing operation.

Like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts inthedifferent views of the drawings.

The hexagonal carton blank, as shown in Figure 1, comprises six sidepieces 10 which are integrally connected'to each other alongside formingcrease lines 11, the side piece 10 on one side of 'the blank beingfurnished with an integral flap 12 which is cemented to the inner faceof the side piece 10 on the other side of the blank when the carton isfolded into collapsed tubular form for shipment to the user. The cartonis folded about the crease line 11a so that it assumes the form as shownin Figure 3.

The bottom of each side piece is formed with an integral tab adapted tobe swung or bent about its bottom edge forming a crease line, as will bereadily appreciated upon reference to Figures 1 and 2, the tabs 13 beingof quadrangular shape and the tabs 14 of triangularshape, each pair ofthree tabs 13, 13 and 14 being preferably separated from one another bythin cuts 15 which have removed little or no material from the cartonblank.

In order to carry out our invention in having the inwardly projectingtabs so positioned that they properly interengage to form the bottomclosure, we so position the crease lines between the side pieces and thetabs that the angle between the crease lines of adjacent tabs extendingfrom adjacent side pieces 10 which are not folded with respect to oneanother in the flat folded form is less than measured on the angle Awhich includes the carton side material. In Figures 1 and 2 of thedrawings it will be seen that looking along the line 17 from the left ofthe sheet, the line 16 is at a slight angle to the left and followingalong the line 16 the line 18 is at a further such slight angle Brelative thereto. If an octagonal container were to be constructed thena fourth side would be attached with its edge extending at an angle C(not shown) less than 180. Since the tabs are, in the blank separated bythin cuts 15, only, the edges of the tabs when folded upwardly, overlapwhen the carton is in the flat folded form as shown in Figure 2.

In order that the progressive angle changes between adjacent sets willnot substantially affect the length of the sides the angle D between thecrease lines of sides joined by the crease line 11 by which the cartonis folded in flat folded form is greater than 180 on the angle includingthe carton material.

The folded carton is shipped to the user substantially in the form shownin Figure 3, and in inserting the merchandise it is only necessary topress the carton from its fiat tubular form to its hexagonal formwherein the overlapping tabs which project into the carton will assume asloping position as illustrated in Figure 4. When a piece ofmerchandise, such as a bottle, is dropped into the carton, its weightpresses the tabs downwardly, and as they have the proper overlappingrelationship in respect to one another, they move into the properinterengagement wherein a solid bottom closure is formed. It will alsobe apparent that the bottom forming tab arrangement may be used in anoctagonal, or similar multi-sided form of carton.

The top of the carton can carry any suitable type of flap, and in thedrawings we show an arrangement which provides a heat closure presentinga plain unbroken top surface. Two of the opposite side walls carryintegral hexagonal flaps 19 and 20 which are bendable along crease line21. The flap 19 is formed with two bendable tabs 22 located along itstwo inclined edges remote from the carton top and the hexagonal flap 20carries two bendable tabs 23 located along its inclined edges adjacentto the top of the carton, the tabs 23 being separated from the sidewalls of the carton by slits 24. The tops of the two carton sidespositioned on either side of the carton side carrying the flap 19 areformed at their outer edges with two bendable tabs 25 which areseparated from the flap 19 by slits 26.

When the carton has been filled, the first step in forming the topclosure is to bend the tabs 25 into the horizontal position shown inFigure 6, after which the tabs 23 on the flap 20 are bent at rightangles thereto and the flap swung into a horizontal position across thetop of the carton, the tabs 23 extending downwardly into the cartonalongside the inner faces of two of the carton sides. The tabs 22 on theflap 19 are then swung at right angles to the flap and the flap bentover to rest upon the top of the flap '20, the tabs 22 being insertedinto the carton between the tabs 25' and the adjacent side walls,whereby an easily opened top of plain pleasing appearance is presented.

From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that a cartonconstructed in accordance with our invention consumes very little of theoperators time in placing merchandise therein as it is not necessary forthe operator to handle or arrange the bottom closure flaps other than byletting the weight of the merchandise press them into place, and thatthe top forming closure flaps can be positioned in place by a couple ofquick movements on the part of the operator.

What we claim as our invention is:

A carton blank adapted to be put in fiat folded form, sets of foldablyconnected side walls, a plurality of carton bottom forming tabs each,adapted to be folded upwardly within the fiat folded carton from arespective side wall and defined therefrom by a straight crease line,said crease lines of adjacent side walls of a set being at an angle ofless than to one another measured on the angle which includes the cartonside material; wherein the tabdefining crease lines of adjacent wallswhich are joined by a crease line by which the carton is folded in fiatfolded form, form an angle of greater than 180 to one another on theangle including the carton material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,105,243 Gruber et al. Jan. 11, 1938 2,285,174 Simons June 2, 1942FOREIGN PATENTS 910,898 France Dec. 21, 1944 644,725 Great Britain Oct.18, 1950

